my birthday - finn & sonjia

the top one arrived from finn, i love crumpled paper and also like that stamp a lot. i paired it with the one below from a friend of mine who lives in story city. i need to research how that town got its name. i love the way she sends vintage photos in her mailings....so cute.

thanks, finnbadger and sonjia.

update  to this post which was written several weeks ago

sadly, sonjia passed away suddenly on may 26. everyone who knew her was shocked and saddened.

http://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com/2013/06/graceful-envelope-past.html

i met sonjia when a friend of hers brought her to a calligraphy guild meeting. she had no previous experience at any art or craft but she took to lettering like a duck takes to water. at our first meeting, she was looking through my notebooks and saw some of my winning entries in the Graceful Envelope contest. she quietly made a note, researched the contest, entered and that year we were both winners. the link above shows a second winning envelope by sonjia. i was so proud of her to just dive into lettering and not be timid. sonjia is also the person who told me about someone who always signed off their letters, Onward through the fog. i loved that sentiment and have adopted it as my own.

sometimes i just say -onward-

onward